VBScript

Start a Remote Shell with QuickShell

Demonstrates the Chilkat Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified sequence OpenSessionChannel → SendReqPty → SendReqShell. It takes no arguments and returns the shell channel number, or -1 on failure. The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

Background: Note that QuickShell does allocate a PTY, so unlike a bare SendReqShell the remote shell runs interactively: it prints a command prompt, echoes the commands you send, and runs interactive login scripts. That is convenient for terminal-style work but means the output contains prompts and echoed input that scripted parsing must tolerate. The method returns as soon as the shell request is accepted — it does not consume the initial login text or prompt, so read and discard that before relying on command output.

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Dim fso, outFile
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Create a Unicode (utf-16) output text file.
Set outFile = fso.CreateTextFile("output.txt", True, True)

success = 0

'  Demonstrates the Ssh.QuickShell method, which starts a remote shell using the simplified
'  sequence OpenSessionChannel, SendReqPty, and SendReqShell.  It takes no arguments and returns
'  the shell channel number, or -1 on failure.  The default PTY size is 80 columns by 24 rows.

set ssh = CreateObject("Chilkat.Ssh")

sshPort = 22
success = ssh.Connect("ssh.example.com",sshPort)
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

'  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
'  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
password = "mySshPassword"

success = ssh.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password)
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

'  Start the shell.  Note that QuickShell allocates a PTY, so the remote shell runs
'  interactively: it prints a command prompt and echoes the commands that are sent to it.
channelNum = ssh.QuickShell()
If (channelNum < 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

'  QuickShell returns as soon as the shell request is accepted -- it does not wait for or
'  consume the initial login text or prompt.
success = ssh.ChannelSendString(channelNum,"uname -a; echo DONE_MARKER" & vbLf,"utf-8")
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

'  IMPORTANT: Set a read timeout before receiving until a match.  ReadTimeoutMs defaults to 0,
'  which means no limit -- without it, this call waits forever if the received data never
'  contains a match.
ssh.ReadTimeoutMs = 15000

caseSensitive = 0
success = ssh.ChannelReceiveUntilMatch(channelNum,"DONE_MARKER","utf-8",caseSensitive)
If (success = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

output = ssh.GetReceivedText(channelNum,"utf-8")
If (ssh.LastMethodSuccess = 0) Then
    outFile.WriteLine(ssh.LastErrorText)
    WScript.Quit
End If

outFile.WriteLine(output)

ssh.Disconnect 

outFile.Close